A Grab for the Heart
by spartanrex10
Summary: He was meant to be their weapon, they were supposed to be his enemy, but he has a habit of not following anyone's expectations. A rogue viper becomes his new friend, and things start changing drastically from there, maybe things will change even further?
1. Chapter 1

A Grab for the Heart

Key:

Normal: Text, 'Thoughts', "Human Speech"

 **Bold: AN, 'Alien Thoughts', "alien Speech"**

 _Italics: Song/Flashback Text, 'Electronics', "YELLING!"_

Chapter 1: Failure?

The room was dark, almost pitch black. At the front of the room, in the center of the wall, there was a screen that was turned off.

A door opened, and flooded the room with light, three figures walked in and walked to the front of a table sitting in the center of the room.

The screen in front of the turned on when the door behind them shut, showering them in bright artificial light, The man standing in the middle of the two other figures pressed a blinking button in front of them.

The screen flashed, and faded as a different image came up. One of a bald man shrouded in shadows, the man raised his hand and began gesturing to the people sitting at the table.

"The inability of this project to maintain the support of several critical council members has greatly reduced the effectiveness of both entities." The man on-screen said, with a slightly distorted voice. "This entire undertaking was the product of an ill-conceived plan… a series of simple… misunderstandings met with an… overzealous… response." the man said, making hand gestures to help emphasize his point. "We believe the best course of action now is to cooperate with the aliens, for the… betterment… of all mankind." The voice continued, the figures looked at each other in bewilderment. And looked back towards the screen as the man continued speaking. "We are of one mind about this. The path ahead is clear." The man said as he pressed a button not seen on screen, and the image shut down; showing a map of the world as a series of red bars on the screen slowly died out one by one.

The three figures from before were left dumbfounded as they stared at the screen that once held the face of one of their supporters. The lights in the room turned back on and showed all three figures clearly for the first time since they entered.

On the right stood an aging man that looked like he was nearing the back end of his life. He wore a dress shirt underneath a green jacket that was normally closed with a tie to help accentuate all of it. Now he had his jacket open to help himself cool off, and his tie was on in a haphazard fashion, overall giving him a disheveled look. He had on a pair of glasses, and his hair was thicker towards the side while nonexistent on the top… He's bald. His hair was a silvery gray, and his face betrayed his age, with the wrinkles and sunken eyes, he was the very image of an elderly man.

On the left was a woman of a younger age, she was wearing an emerald turtleneck with the Xcom emblem on her chest. She wore a white lab coat with emerald stripes traveling down the sleeves. Her hair was a dark amber color and was cascading down her back instead of the usual bun. Her pale skin showed how often she was indoors, and her shadowed eyes told stories of countless sleepless nights.

The man in the middle looked the most formal and composed with his green sweater overtop of his white dress shirt and tie. His hair was a lighter brown color and was in a very plain, and easy to maintain style. He was currently holding a headset that normally went around his head, and fed him intel on x-ray activity.

The man on the left turned to the other two, and voiced the question that was on all of their minds; "What just happened?" He asked in a dumbfounded tone and shot a glance back at the screen.

"I believe…" Began the woman on the left. "That the X-COM project was just terminated," she said solemnly, turning to the other two occupants of the room.

"What do we do now?" The old man on the right questioned turning to the man in the middle looking for answers.

"We continue to try and fight back the aliens." The man in the middle said he turned towards the door.

"Bradford, without funding from the council, Vahlen and I will be hard pressed to keep our men supplied with standard equipment, much less upgrading it to effectively fight off the aliens." The old man said, naming the woman to his left.

Vahlen turned and addressed the now stationary Bradford, "Doctor Shen is, unfortunately, correct in his observations, while we may be able to make some minor improvements, it'll take much longer to make any major improvements." She said, "Thus eating up our already non-existent time frame." She continued.

Bradford whipped around and began yelling, his already thinning composure breaking under the stress. "You think I don't know that!" He began, startling the two doctors. "I know we're already on a tight schedule, and we're now on an impossible one." He continued, walking back over, and supporting himself with the table. "But we can't give up, we know what we saw down in that base, and we can't just let these aliens take away everything." He said, slamming his fist down on the table.

Vahlen gained a thoughtful look. "Perhaps it isn't the proper time for a counter attack." She said, almost a mumble, but the other occupants clearly heard her.

Bradford turned to her, and asked his thoughts, "What do you have in mind?"

Vahlen began walking towards the door, "It's more long-term, but if we pull this off; Xcom won't only survive, it'll thrive!" She said.

In a completely separate area that was a stark contrast to the dark base that the three people were talking in, there was a beautiful meadow, with bright flowers, and a wonderful atmosphere that screamed peace, and happiness.

A young boy, about five years of age, was running through the field happily. The boy was giggling in delight at the wonderful scene. "Mom, Dad!" He screamed out at the top of his lungs. "Bet you can't catch me!" He yelled over his shoulder at the two laughing adults chasing after him.

"Oh yes, we will!" The father exclaimed to his son, before scooping him up in his arms and proceeding to tickle his stomach. Zed laughed at the sensations and turned to scream at his dad to stop it. Before he could, however, a flash of green fire arched out of the trees and struck him in the face, the fire burned brightly and burned through his father's skin like a hot knife through butter. The child in his arms was showered in burnt flesh and boiling blood, but he was too shocked to feel any forms of pain.

The child looked towards his mother as he heard her scream his name, and was helpless as more green fire rained down upon her still running form. She died almost instantaneously, burning alive under the scorching substance. The kid snapped out of his stupor when he finally hit the ground, the world to him was moving in slow motion, as he scrambled to the side of his dead father.

"Dad!" He screamed out, hot tears flowing down his face, and splattering on the corpse's torso.

The child continued to stare, even as he was picked up by something, and carried away from his parents. He screamed at the scene before him, helpless as he watched the field he was previously playing in burned, though he could swear he saw a man standing among the flames, smiling morosely at the scene.

 **AN: This is the redone version of the first chapter, I tried my best to fix mistakes, and add more content to help describe my story. This last scene was a completely new addition that is going to play a bigger part in a later arc.**

 **This is Spartanrex10 Signing off!**


	2. Chapter 2

A Grab for the Heart

Key:

Normal: Text, 'Thoughts', "Human Speech"

 **Bold: AN, 'Alien Thoughts', "alien Speech"**

 _Italics: Song/Flashback Text, 'Electronics', "YELLING!"_

Chapter 2: The Opening Move.

20 years later

The alleyway was dark and littered with trash. The ground was speckled with puddles of dirty brown water and smelled horrible. A man hiding behind a dumpster could attest to that.

He quickly shot from his cover and moved out of the alleyway, and onto a deserted sidewalk, finally taking cover behind a parked SUV.

The light shone down on him, revealing his features for the world to see. He has a buzz cut that barely leaves enough hair to tell that he has black hair. His eyes are dark brown, and hold a depth of pain. His chin is the start of a scar that runs all the way up his left cheek. He's fairly tanned with, a strong build focused on speed and strength, he's well toned with nice muscle definition, though not overly so that veins are visible. He's wearing a suit of kevlar body armor, colored a dark purple with a matching dark purple rifle. Both of which held a strange pattern.

Checking the area once more, the man slowly stood up, keeping an eye on his surroundings. "Any activity?" He asked into an earpiece quietly.

" _Nothing, in particular, Menace 1."_ A deep masculine voice with a Scottish accent responded.

Menace 1 nodded in response, even though he knew the person on the other side couldn't see him. He rushed out of cover, crossed the street, and ducked into another alleyway. He slowly scanned the area, swishing his gun from one side of the alley to the other, keeping an eye out for any hostiles while slowly making his way to the mission A.O.E.

"Menace 2, what's your position in relation to the target?" He asked once he made sure that nobody was nearby.

' _Eta, 1 minute. You?'_ Menace 2 answered, and asked over the comm.

"About the same, given no interruptions." He answered. He continued moving down the alley, and eventually came to an opening that led out into the street, and across that; the target. The target was a large statue made of bronze of a tall being in a robe and helmet.

"Gotcha." Menace 1 whispered to themselves as they moved to the wall surrounding the park the statue was in, taking cover behind one of the taller areas of the fence. Checking around the side, he confirmed the presence of two advent troopers. "Menace 4, are you in position?" He asked.

' _I see them, I've got the one on the left.'_ A voice replied confidently.

Menace 1 shook his head, and took aim at the guard on his left, and started counting down: "Going live in three." He said, narrowing his eyes at his target, but not quite closing them. "Two…" He slowed his breathing, steadied his hands, "One…" He started lightly squeezing the trigger of his customized rifle. "Zero!" He said, squeezing down on the trigger.

BANG. The gunshots rang out like thunder right next to him, and for a few seconds, he could hear ringing as he watched his bullets fly through the air, causing a slipstream to form around them. And then, just like that; it was over, as time sped back up, and the two guards fell simultaneously.

"Good work Menace 4." Menace 1 said as he dashed to the statue, pulling a tablet out from behind him and tapping a few quick commands in.

Overhead, a drone flew to what looked like a lamppost and hooked up to a terminal near the base. It began to hack the terminal, and then the lights seen above turned off, and the sensors stopped scanning for life.

"Menace 2, hurry over, and start the setup of our package." He said as he ran over to the statue in the center of the park.

' _Understood Menace 1.'_ The man answered. "I'm already here." He continued.

If Zed was at all surprised by the man's sudden appearance, then he didn't show it. "Good, begin setup of the package." He said motioning to the statute. "Menace 3, what's the status of the VIP?" He asked when he was sure that Menace 2 didn't need any help.

' _Still working on it sir.'_ Answered a pubescent voice. ' _We'll be finished soon, though, recommend extraction instead of waiting for us.'_ He continued

Zed nodded to no one in particular and voiced his agreement; "Understood, radio in when you have the VIP, and we'll circle back around for you." He said. "Menace 2, you ready?" He asked, when he got a nod of affirmation, he spun on his heel and began jogging towards the extraction zone. "Good, then let's head towards the extraction point." He continued. Watching impassively as the drone finished it's job and flew away to their getaway vehicle.

Meanwhile on the other side of town, two shadows moved slowly through the shadows. Both were clearly male from their stature, and if one looked carefully at the shadows, they could see that one was holding a carbine, while the other was holding a revolver.

"Menace 6, what's the status of that spectacular display you promised?" One of the figures asked into an earpiece quietly to avoid detection. While he was doing this his pal was scanning their surroundings for any hostiles. During one of his sweeps, he fell under the light of an overhead lamp.

His hair is a disheveled mess of chestnut locks, with a fair complexion, and bright blue eyes. His chin is covered in a light fuzz, while the rest of his face was cleanly shaven. He wore standard kevlar armor and had on a hood that shrouded his facial features in shadow.

' _Give me a few more seconds'_ Said a tomboyish female voice over the comms. ' _You're lucky that it's only taken this long.'_ She continued, ' _Setting up a display like this without getting caught is tough.'_ She said before continuing before the man on the other end could retort, ' _Luckily, I'm a professional.'_ She finished this by punctuating it with a large explosion that took out a few buildings further down the road. ' _You'll have about fifteen minutes before the Advent troops realize what's going on, during this timeframe, you'll meet minimal Advent resistance, good luck.'_ She said before silence befell the comm channels.

"Well, let's get a move on then." The hooded man said in an English accent as he continued down the alley at a brisk pace.

"Wait up dude." The other figure said as he scrambled to catch up.

Everything was going fine before the sectoid showed up. Its presence was first announced when the feeling at the back of their minds exploded, and the thing jumped down from the ceiling and screeched at them.

It had the look of stretched spandex over some sort of skeleton. Its teeth were permanently revealed to the world. It had two holes on the side of its head for ears, and its eyes were sunken into its skull but looked more like someone had shoved the eyes in, and cut off the eyelids.

"Damn, you're one ugly mother…" The prepubescent began but was cut off by the alien screeching once more and sending a purple energy straight at him. He ducked behind cover and watched as the purple just went around the cover, and hit him straight in the face. "Fuck!" He yelled as the energy entered his head, and he started to hear a voice in his head. ' _ **Obey!'**_ It shouts in his head.

"Not on your life you mother fucker!" He yelled as he staggered up out of cover, and opened fire on the alien.

Bullets whizzed out of the barrel and hit the alien right in the chest, interrupting its concentration, and causing the purple energy to dissipate.

He turned around once he saw the sectoid hit the ground, and ran into the doorway behind him, dodging sloppy gunfire from outside the building. "Have you finished your job yet 5, or are you getting slow?" He yelled, taking cover behind the doorway, and returning fire. Smiling as he heard a voice cry out in pain.

"Almost done here mate, just give me a few more bloody seconds." Menace 5 said as he typed furiously into a keypad.

"Well, I don't know how much longer we can hold out!" The other occupant of the room exclaimed as a bit of his cover was blasted away. He quickly whipped around the corner and sent a return volley, and managed to nick two of the Advent soldiers, distracting them enough for him to return to cover, and reload.

"... And… Done!" Menace 5 finally exclaimed, pulling a lever, causing a nearby tank to empty of liquid. "Okay, 3, time to move." He said as he grabbed the limp figure inside.

The limp figure looked like it was wearing a red spacesuit with an advent helmet on. There was really nothing else to say about it.

"About damn time." He said, turning and threw a grenade at the far wall, turning and continuing to fire upon the Advent troops, not bothering to look at the explosion behind him.

The two men bolted with the special cargo in tow, out of the hole in the wall courtesy of the previously thrown grenade.

"This is Menace 5, requesting immediate evac, we have the package secured." He yelled into his comm unit, blindly firing behind himself as he ran.

' _We read you Menace 5, coming in for extraction, ETA… Right the hell now!'_ A voice says over the comm, Then a VTOL aircraft comes out from behind a building, and has it's rear facing them, and the four people sitting there begin to unload into the advancing forces of Advent. It's a downright massacre, bodies fall left and right, and the troops don't seem to understand their predicament, and continue to send more to their deaths. It get's to the point where it feels like a shootout.

"The VIP is onboard!" Menace 3 exclaims. In response, the VTOL shifts, and begins flying away.

Menace 1 grins and pulls out a music player from his pocket and presses play:

The finale for Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture starts playing as explosions start going off around the city, most of them are superficial, and nothing majorly inhabited was destroyed. The final explosion that went with the grand finale of the tune the explosions were going off to was the destruction of the monument. During all of this, the people on the VTOL are laughing at this new gag that their squad leader had pulled off.

Inside of the city, there was a group of people who were sitting on the roof watching a movie, they were nearing the end when the explosions started going off, and they watched in awe as the explosions matched up with the music coming from their television. When the music reached its end, the monument a few blocks away went up in a spectacular explosion.

"That was epic…" One of them trailed off.

"And coincidental." Another said while glancing towards the now muted TV.

One of them stared at his phone for a bit before yelling out; "I got it!'

"Got what man?" One of them queried.

"I recorded a video of this, now I'm gonna post it on the internet, and go viral!" He answered.

The rest of his friends just sweat dropped at that,

 **AN: So! That was the re-written second chapter of A Grab for the Heart. Hope you liked it, I hope I can get a beta reader, hope you enjoyed!**

 **Also, for those who say my chapters are short, I like to think of the shorter versions as placeholders, and giving a vague outline of the main story.**

 **This is spartanrex10, signing off!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A Grab for the Heart**

Key:

Normal: Text, 'Thoughts', "Human Speech"

 **Bold: AN, 'Alien Thoughts', "Alien Speech"**

 _Italics: Song/Flashback Text, 'Electronics', "YELLING!"_

Underline: Title, 'Writing', "Psionics"

Chapter 3: A New Friend?

All the members of Menace squad were sitting in relative silence and were just doing random things to pass the time. Menace 4 looked up, and studied her CO, he was sitting with his head down and seemed to hold an aura of contemplation.

Her name is Sarah Schwert, AKA: Owl. She has brown eyes, and long chestnut hair done up in a ponytail. She has fair pale skin with a medium build, most of her muscle mass was focused on her legs so that she could get between sniping positions faster. She has a more petite figure, at age twenty-three with B-Cup Breasts and average hips, she, however, didn't care much for her figure, as she thought that since her figure wasn't as big, it gave her more combat maneuverability.

Looking to her CO, she asked a question, "Something on your mind sir?"

He didn't say anything for a moment before snapping out of his daze, and looking at her in surprise, "You say something?" He asked in confusion.

Owl rolled her eyes at her Co's inattentiveness outside of combat, and repeated her question, "I asked if something was on your mind, sir?"

Menace 1 shook his head, and answered, "It's nothing you have to concern yourself with." He said with a reassuring smile.

"Hey, Zed!" One of the others exclaimed, grabbing the attention of the now named Zed.

Zed turned to address the speaker, who was a ginger male in their late thirties. With a heavy set build, and standing at 6ft. He spoke in an Irish accent, and sounded joyful, even though he had a large chunk of his armor scorched black from a plasma shot to the shoulder. His blue eyes twinkled with mischief, and amusement at his CO's blank stare. The giant of a man grinned madly at his friend and dragged him into a large one-armed hug that nearly choked him.

"Gahk, Let me go you big oaf!" He yelled out in surprise. He slowly lost his breath as the large man hugged him to death.

Sarah laughed at the scene before her, and just stood by and watched as her CO was hugged to death.

' _This is Firebrand, buckle up kiddies, we're coming in for a landing.'_ A voice said over the speakers, and the large man let go of Zed, causing him fall to the floor gasping for breath.

"Eh he he," the behemoth chuckled nervously as his CO sent a murderous glare his way, "Sorry cap, di'nt expect ya ta be tha' fragil." He apologized.

Zed just smiled and replied, "Don't worry Johnny-boy, I'll just make you run laps around the Avenger." He said happily.

"Ah tha's good…" 'Johnny' said, before realizing what his CO just said.

By this point, Zed had strapped himself in and braced himself in his seat.

'Johnny' scrambled to get to a seat before the Skyranger landed, but was unsuccessful, and crashed into the wall that separated the cabin from the cockpit as the Skyranger landed.

"Damn it Fuil, I keep telling you to remain seated through the flights," an angry voice came from the other side of the wall. "One of these days, you're gonna leave a dent." the female voice continued.

Johnny rubbed the back of his head nervously, and gave an apologetic smile, "Sorry Fire, I take full responsibility."

Johnathan Fuil, a large man standing at 6ft with ginger hair, and a large scruffy beard, stared with his bright sky blue eyes at a female in lightly padded spandex, attempting his best to maintain eye contact.

The woman smirked beneath her helmet at the effect she was having on the giant man. Her name was Pyre Mark, referred to by everyone other than Menace 1 as Firebrand. She shook her head as she walked by, swaying her hips tantalizingly, catching most of the men's and one of the woman's attention.

Everyone walked off the Skyranger and began unloading some of the gear they grabbed from the battlefield. While his team was doing this, Zed carried the commander to the medical ward, before he even got to the exit of the hangar, he was intercepted by several people, one wearing a jacket with green sleeves, and a tan area around the chest. The left shoulder had a knife sheathed, and ready for combat. The man had gray hair, displaying his age and weary brown eyes that widened when they spotted the body on hand.

"Quick, get the commander onto the gurney!" the person exclaimed, his voice deep and gravely. The person ran over, and helped lower the commander onto the gurney, and began pushing him down the hall.

This man was John Bradford, the Central Officer of Xcom, he was responsible for providing tactical data and advice to those on the field.

They burst through some doors, and Zed spotted a man with dark skin and a bald head wearing three-quarter glasses, and a lab coat.

Tygan, the chief researcher of Xcom, was currently prepping some equipment when he heard the sound of the doors being slammed open.

Zed and Bradford quickly moved the suit encased commander onto the operating table, the body making a thump sound as it landed heavily.

Zed moved back, and watched the proceedings, making sure to turn those curious to see the events, away.

"Carefully!" the dark man chastised, "there's possibly decades worth of atrophy to contend with," he explained. He looked at some monitors quickly, checking to see if his calculations were correct.

"Wish we had more time," another more feminine voice chimed in, as she hooked some tubing up to the arms of the commander.

"I don't disagree." Tygan said "But as it stands now, we risk losing the patient if we don't begin the removal procedure immediately." he said as he wiped some condensation off of the visor of the suit.

"We're ready." the woman said as she hooked up one last tube.

"Good," said Bradford, "then let's get on with it."

Tygan grabbed hold of the visor of the suit's helmet and pulled it off, there was a hissing noise as the airtight seal was broken, and gasses either rushed in or out.

"Remarkable…" Tygan said in amazement as he stared at the commander's face.

"Just like 20 years ago…" Bradford said solemnly, "we were still calling it a war back then…" he continued, "we had no idea what was coming…" he left the sentence hanging.

Tygan looked up at one of the monitors above the commander's head and nodded, "Response from the cerebral cortex, good." he said in satisfaction. "Prepping for cranial intrusion." he continued, as he pulled out a remote like device, and pulled on the back end, causing two prongs to jump out of the top, and connect with some precision plasma.

Tygan began cutting into the commander's skull and Zed winced as he witnessed the hastiness with which Tygan was performing the task.

He suddenly said aloud, "I've managed to identify the connection," he continued to cut small bits of the commander's skull away, "Preparing to make final incision." he said as he slowly lowered the device to make one last cut on the skin.

"The readings are getting really erratic." the woman said in worry as she checked her tablet, and surrounding monitors multiple times.

"Of course they are," Tygan said in exasperation, "these implants were never designed to be removed," he said as he set down the device next to him. "We are risking severe-" Tygan began, but was cut off by Bradford.

"No plan B here people." he said sternly, "Do it!" he said with finality. Zed can hear some beeping in the background growing more rapid.

Tygan took the device in his hands and activated it, causing several metal prongs to unfold from the sides, and extend from the front.

Tygan slowly inserted the device into the hole he made and began to slowly pull the device out. The Commander's body twitched a little. As the device fully pulled an implant out of the commander's skull, the body spasmed, and Tygan's brief examination of the chip was halted as he haphazardly placed the extractor, and chip onto the cart beside him.

"Doctor!" the woman said as she rushed to a nearby console. She began typing things at a mile a minute and began to panic as the beeping sped up even further.

Tygan rushed to a nearby table, and grabbed a needle, he quickly checked it, and finding it to his satisfaction, not leaking, he quickly administered the contents, but it came a few seconds too late, as the beeping took on a constant, ringing tone.

"No signal…" the woman said dejectedly.

"It'll take more than that to keep the commander down," Bradford said as he stared intently at the heart rate monitor.

Zed lowered his head in remorse but lifted it when he heard another beep, then another.

"Vitals resurfacing," The woman said as she began to grin at the screens.

Tygan grabbed a flashlight and began shining it into the commander's face, "Pupillary response normal," Tygan checked off vocally, "Vitals stabilizing," he continued as he checked a few overhead monitors, "Procedure complete." Tygan finished as he turned off the flashlight, nodding to Bradford and walking away to grab more supplies.

"Told 'em it would take more than that to keep you down," Bradford said with a smirk, "Welcome back, Commander." he said as he began walking to grab some things for the Commander's awakening.

Zed chose this moment to walk out of the lab area and was walking down the hall when he heard his name called.

"Zed!" the woman from earlier called out, "Wait up!" she caught up to him and smiled at him.

Her name is Lily Shen, Granddaughter of Doctor Raymond Shen, the original Chief Engineer of Xcom, Lily wore a yellow-orange tank top with a blue-green vest overtop. She wore a brown belt with multiple pouches over top of her tank top. She had kevlar arm guards with open fingers that went a quarter of the way up her upper arm. Her pants were a dark green in color, with plenty of pockets for her to store objects. Her skin was a slightly darker hue than white and reflected her Asian descent. Her hair was a dark chocolate brown and was swept over her right ear. On her right shoulder was a tattoo with a fist coming down on the silhouettes of aliens, and the words vigilo confido. Her 'assets' were slightly above average, though you wouldn't be able to tell through her clothing, her breasts were a perky b-cup, while her firm ass was nice round and firm.

Zed gave soft smile to Lily and nodded for her to continue.

Lily gave a nod and continued, "So I had some new experimental weaponry I'd like you to test out before I start giving it to the men." she began slowly, but began to gain confidence when Zed continued to listen, "So I was wondering if you wouldn't mind coming down to the firing range with me to test it out?" she finished. Wringing her hands slightly to calm some of her nerves.

Zed nodded and smiled, "I'll be there at eight." he said.

Lily nodded and smiled brightly at this. "Okay, see you then," she said as she rushed further down the hall.

Zed quietly chuckled at the obvious crush that she had. He continued on his way to the training area of the ship and walked in to see an amusing scene.

A small woman was holding down the behemoth of Johnathan Fuil in a headlock, screaming obscenities at the man as he pleaded for mercy, three others stood off to the side as they watched silently, two of them having bemused expressions, while the third was apathetic.

Zed walked over and whispered to them, "He piss her off again?"

The others nodded and simultaneously replied "Yes." in complete deadpan.

Zed nodded and walked into the 'danger zone' as the others called it, and picked the two of them up by the back of their armor, one dangling limply in the other, while the other had their legs dragging on the floor as they hung there limply.

Zed dropped them, and said, "You two finished?" Johnathan nodded and stood to his full height and walked back to his punching bag in silence, the sound of flesh meeting bag soon reverberating through the room.

The other nodded, and said, "I'm sorry Zed-sama, it won't happen again."

Zed sighed in exasperation, "First off, don't add sama to my name, and secondly, you said that the last eighteen times as well."

The woman rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment, and suddenly found the floor a hell of a lot more interesting, "Yes Zed-sama."

Zed sighed, and gave up for the hundredth time, to get her to stop calling him that. "Alright then, Menace Squad, good work on the ground everyone, and nice teamwork." Zed praised, as everyone turned to face their Staff Sergeant with a salute. Zed nodded, and said, "At ease," everyone was about to relax, and head off to do their own thing when he continued, "I noticed that we had a few mistakes today, and while everyone makes mistakes, I want them corrected." he said sternly, the rest of menace squad nodded and walked off to begin training.

Zed didn't need to worry too much about what they did, as his squad often noticed their own mistakes, and fixed them themselves, only asking for help if they couldn't figure something out.

Zed took a moment to examine the members of his squad and check that all were present.

There was Menace 2, Johnathan Fuil. He was a giant of a man standing at 6ft tall with a large muscular build. His hair was a bright ginger, and his face was enshrouded in a large beard, his sky blue eyes were filled with friendliness and compassion. He had a lighter skin complexion, but mostly from genetics, and not lack of sunlight.

Standing at 5' 8"ft, was Menace 3. His name is Marcus Zernia. His build was a medium size but was well defined. His hair a vibrant chestnut, though you can only tell from his eyebrows and chin fuzz, as the rest of his head is bald. He was currently shirtless, showing his upper body to the room, and on his left shoulder was a fading plasma burn.

Owl or Menace 4 was sitting in a corner taking care of her 'baby' as she called it, a PGM Hécate II. Her piercing brown eyes stared intently at her gun as she tried to find whatever it was she was searching for. Her dark chestnut hair was tied into a ponytail that reached her mid-back, her bangs shadowed her eyes, giving her an ominous look, and her pale skin gave her the look of an assassin. Her 'assets' were average, with her bust being a perky b-cup, while her round ass was sat on the hard benches of the training room.

Menace 5 gave a wave as he passed by, smirking as a little drone flew behind him, ' _It was nice seeing you again commander~'_ the drone said in a breathy, sexy voice.

Zed simply shook his head at the ridiculous drone, and said, "It was nice seeing you again too Nurse."

Daniel Prescott was an interesting fellow to be sure, with his carefree attitude towards everything, and his antics, he was one of the stranger members of Menace Squad. He had bright blonde hair and light, joy filled green eyes, this would sound normal, except that he was a black guy, and those colors aren't often seen together. He was of medium build, and was strong, even in his growing age.

Last but not least was Annya Dotrine, also known as Little Lithe, also known as Menace 6, Her Pitch Black Hair shone in the lights of the training room, and her stormy gray eyes caught his for a moment, and she quickly turned away, Her tan skin was rough in some places, and held signs of scarring. She was modest at B-cup breasts but held a really firm, and sensitive if the rumors were true, ass.

Zed nodded as he assured himself that everyone was there, and accounted for. He was walking out of the room when he heard the intercom turn on, ' _Menace Squad gear up and report to the bridge for briefing. Repeat, Menace Squad gear up and report to the bridge for briefing.'_ the intercom switched off once more, and everyone in the training room began running for the door.

Everyone met up in the armory, and began gearing up, Zed pulled his purple kevlar body armor over top of his standard uniform, he then grabbed for his rifle, only to find it replaced with another entirely, and with a note, 'Since you won't be making it to that weapons testing, I took the liberty of getting it cleared for use in the field, good luck ;)'

Zed shook his head at the lengths Shen would go to get something done, and examined his new weapon, it was purple in design and looked similar to the standard rifle for Xcom, but Zed knew there must be something different about it, otherwise Shen wouldn't have gone to such lengths to get it to him.

Zed just shrugged his shoulders as he strapped it to his back, and finished up his routine with everyone else, and began jogging to the bridge, also known as the control room.

In the center of the room was a large holographic globe, surrounding it were several consoles, and consoles, and monitors lined the majority of the room, standing in the center was Central Officer Bradford.

Zed and his squad stood at attention in front of Bradford, awaiting orders.

Bradford waved his hand in a dismissive fashion, "At ease soldiers," he said as he turned to a screen on his right, "Our friends in the resistance have delayed an Advent convoy from reaching it's destination, the resistance scouts informed us that it was carrying a hybrid magnetic power converter, something that Shen has been pushing us to find." he continued, "Your job is to secure the aoe, and minimize any possible damage to the converter. Dismissed." he finished as he turned to the Geoscape.

"Sir!" all of Menace Squad replied in unison as they all began jogging down to the hangar for departure.

Zed and his squad reached the hanger, and barely paid any of the surrounding ruckus any mind, however, unknown to them, there was a glowing figure behind a large stack of crates, it's yellow glow surprisingly not giving it away, "Good luck, my friend." it said, before disappearing in a flash of purple light.

Zed sat quietly as he and his squad waited for drop off, a few of them every now and then checking equipment, to ensure its continued functionality since several minutes ago.

The lights in the cabin suddenly flashed to red to signify that they had reached the drop zone, ' _In the pipe, 5 by 5.'_ Zed and everyone else stood up and faced towards the back of the aircraft, holding on to handles on the overhang.

As the ship stopped and opened its bay doors, Zed was one of the first to exit the ship, jumping from the ramp to the free hanging cords, slid down, and gave an audible thud as he hit the ground.

Zed did a quick check of his immediate surroundings and was sure that his squad mates were doing the same. They had landed in a clearing beside a road that intel said the convoy was traveling down, the rest of the area was insignificant beside all of the trees surrounding the area, being of a deciduous forest.

"Okay people, Advent doesn't know we're here, so I want everyone to be cautious as they advance," he started, "6, I want a quick scouting of the surrounding area, zero engagements," he ordered, and Annya gave a nod as she raced off silently into the trees surrounding the clearing.

"Damn, it's like she's a ghost or something," Daniel said jokingly, even though he had seen this, and made the comment many times.

"2, 5, I want the two of you to advance together, if one becomes injured, defend or heal the other," Zed continued, "4 I want you to get a higher view of the area, work in tandem with 6 to snipe." Sarah nodded as she jogged off into the foliage to search for a good area. "3, you're with me, we'll head along the road." he finished as the remaining four in the clearing spread out.

Zed leaned out of cover to check the road for signs of the convoy and didn't have to search long before he found debris from Advent vehicles further down the left side of the road. Zed and the others advanced towards the convoy separately, Zed was nearing the first truck when Sarah calmly spoke on the comms.

' _1, you've got a squad of bogeys closing on your position, I suggest you find cover before they spot you.'_ Zed nodded at this.

"3 I want you behind that truck, shoot the ones on the right, I'll take cover on the left in the forest." Marcus nodded silently, and hid behind the truck that they were previously approaching, with his back to the van, he pointed his gun to his newfound left.

Zed hid in the trees, and waited for the moment to strike, ' _Sir, you have three of the five approaching on the left, while two flank the right, I can take down at least two of them before they realize what's going on.'_ Sarah said over comms.

Zed looked at them and said, "Take one from each side."

' _Understood sir.'_ Sarah replied as she lined up her shot.

Zed was aiming his new rifle at the marching Advent troopers when he heard two consecutive shots ring out in the air, and saw one of the Advent troopers on his side of the van fall to the ground with a huge gaping hole in the side of its head.

Zed took that as his signal to fire, and fired two bursts, one after the other, into the remaining troopers heads. Zed was surprised to find that the bursts caused almost no recoil and that the bullets caused a similar aftermath as one of the bullets from Sarah's Hecate.

Zed shook it off, and dashed towards the lamppost in between the two roads, and hid behind it for cover, and not a moment too soon, as a hail of MAG rounds fired around his position.

"3, did you take care of your 'friend'?" Zed asked as he ducked around his cover and gave a quick return burst, not hitting anything, but keeping their attention on him.

' _Aye, sir.'_ Marcus replied, Zed nodded, and heard the telltale signs of him returning fire upon his foes, the loud bang of his raging bull pistol.

Zed ducked out of cover, and quickly advanced, firing several bursts as well, when he got to his new cover, he quickly reloaded, and pulled up the vitals of his squad on his tablet, he saw that everyone was still in good health, and from the sounds of it, 6, 2, and 5 have yet to join the fight.

Zed stowed his tablet away, and checked his surroundings and found that there were only two troopers left and an officer. Zed took careful aim and fired a burst into the officer's head, and watched in satisfaction as the officer fell to the ground lifeless.

Without their officer to guide them the two troopers became sloppy, and rushed Zed's position, and Zed only needed to watch as more bullets found homes inside their skulls.

' _Area clear.'_ Sarah spoke over comms as she did one last sweep from her vantage point in an abandoned tree house.

"Central, confirm?" Zed said as he motioned for his squad to follow him to the Hybrid power converter.

' _Negative Menace, we're still picking up another unknown heat sig down there.'_ Central replied.

Zed nodded and motioned for everyone else to continue onto the converter while he checked the area.

Zed found that central led him to another clearing out of sight of the others and that there were several carcasses lying around the clearing, showing that there was a predator nearby.

Zed heard some hissing behind him, and quickly turned around, only to find that nothing was there. He lowered his guard for a second in confusion but found that it was a mistake as a tongue shot out, and grabbed his rifle.

Fighting with all of his strength to try and retain a hold of the weapon, he was soon overpowered, and the gun flew out into the surrounding forest. Now on high alert, Zed scanned the area for anything but was unsuccessful.

From behind him, he heard a click, and turned, coming face to face with a strange sight, his rifle in the hands of a humanoid snake creature… with breasts…

Zed shook his head, and decided to attempt the diplomatic approach, " **Hello, could you please give me back my weapon?"** He asked, though found that his voice sounded slightly deeper than before.

The snake woman's eyes widened in surprise as she asked, " **You speak sacellum?!"** She asked, though now that he thought about it, it sounded strangely like hisses and other similar noises.

Upon this realization, Zed gripped his head as an immense pain filled his head, it was too much, and before he knew what was happening, his vision went dark.

 **AN: Well, this is my longest chapter so far, and I'm proud of it, I hope you enjoy, as I worked extra hard on this, and listened to tons of music while doing so. If you have any suggestion, constructive criticisms, or praise, leave it in the comments, and please no flames, I don't want to pay extra to buy a smoke detector.**


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